


Irregular Sleeping Habits

by missingnolovefic



Series: sleepy cuddles [1]
Category: The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Nightmares, One Shot, Sleepy Cuddles, Spooning, implied PTSD, irregular sleep patterns, watching another sleeping, with a touch of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-05
Updated: 2014-04-05
Packaged: 2018-01-18 05:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1416373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missingnolovefic/pseuds/missingnolovefic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Steve can't sleep. Sometimes Tony is there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Irregular Sleeping Habits

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fira21](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fira21/gifts).



> Fira was feeling down, so I offered her fluff fic. Somewhere the angst crept in, but I've been assured it's still mostly fluffy.
> 
> This has been posted on my [tumblr](www.miss-ingno.tumblr.com/tagged/ingno-writes) back on Feb, 21st.

Sometimes Steve just likes to watch Tony sleep. This is not as creepy as it sounds – it has more to do with how neither of them get much sleep these days. At least, ever since they started sleeping in the same bed, Tony had taken to stumbling into their bed in the early morning hours now and then.

(That is, if Steve couldn’t seduce Tony into bed with the promise of sex. He tries to keep it to a minimum, the emotional manipulation as well, because Steve hates being manipulated himself, and he wouldn’t do that to someone he loved, as long as it isn’t necessary. And by necessary he means life-or-death situations.)

Anyway. Both of them are plagued by nightmares regularly, and Tony had always been on an odd sleep schedule, where he stayed awake for longer than should be humanly possible. Since the serum, Steve can afford to sleep less and still be perfectly functional, except if he gets wounded in battle, because sleep helps the healing process along.

But as they are lying here, listening to Tony’s deep breaths is almost enough to lull Steve back into sleep himself. His arms are folded around Tony’s mid, keeping his lover close. Usually Tony doesn’t mind being the little spoon, but sometimes he would protest just for the sake of arguing. Steve hides his face against the brunet’s neck and smiles.

Sometimes Steve wakes violently from his nightmares. He wakes thrashing, heart pounding and not recognizing his surroundings. On those nights, especially if Tony is with him and gets hurt, he leaves their bedroom and heads for the gym to work out the adrenaline rushing through his veins. Lately though, Tony tends to get him to stay in bed more often than not, which in general leads to rough sex. (But only if Tony didn’t get hit by accident. Because Steve is still insecure about sleeping in the same bed as is, still uncertain about rough sex at all, that he couldn’t if…)

Sometimes Tony wakes Steve when he has a nightmare. Not that Tony would purposefully wake him (he’d rather slip out and go down to his workshop instead), but Steve is a soldier with advanced hearing, and Tony grows agitated. He tends to be awake by the time Tony shakes off the nightmare, before he has time to gather himself and leave.

After the first couple times where he tried talking Tony into staying, which more often than not ended with Tony avoiding him for a while, Steve learned that by pretending to still be asleep and throwing an arm over Tony’s waist his lover would curl back up with him instead. They both know that Steve is awake and are both happy to ignore that.

If it was a really bad nightmare, Tony will cling to Steve’s t-shirt and hide his face against his chest. Whenever that happens, Steve will hug the brunet close and murmur soothing nonsense into his hair until he falls back asleep. As Tony’s breaths even out, Steve feels the pressure around his chest lighten a bit more. Which is what happened tonight.

He lets his nose trail down the line of Tony’s neck and presses a light kiss to his shoulder, taking a deep breath of Tony’s scent. Despite all his doubts when they started dating, his uncertainty if this would turn out to be a good thing, if they wouldn’t only hurt each other more… he is glad, now, that they have this. That he can hold Tony and have Tony hold him and be there for each other. He is happy with what they have, and it means a lot to him that they have the chance to try this.

Dating. Being lovers. Even if they haven’t said those three words yet… Steve knows, deep inside, that Tony loves him as much as he loves Tony. The genius is mumbling in his sleep again, talking about equations and mechanics and the colour of Steve’s eyes. The soldier can’t help but grin, kissing Tony’s cheek.

Some nights they spend their post-nightmare time making love to each other, the slide of their bodies and the smell of sex-induced sweat a balm to their bleeding hearts. Some nights making love before sleeping forces the nightmares away for a while, the lingering taste and feel of the other coming along with them into their dreams. And some nights they just spend in each other’s company, making out until one of them falls asleep with the other following suit.


End file.
